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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Audubon Wonders

We are lucky enough to live right next to an Audubon Sanctuary, whose trails lead to several looping destinations between our house, the birdwatching barn, the river that laces between it all, and surrounding territory. It's a wonderland for native and endangered species, both plant and animal. From the owls, to the Pileated woodpecker, the bobcat and fox, many hawk and seemingly a million birds ....... it's impossible to catch them all by eye or camera, making all your senses even more valuable to an evening spend wandering the trails.

After digging for arrowheads (to no avail - but we found some cool rocks and bones) we walked up the Solomon's Seal lined boardwalk through the woods to the birdwatching barn. In the yard was a full display of the Wild Turkey's mating show. These aren't very clear pictures, unfortunately, but you can get an idea of how massive they make themselves when showing off. at least twice their normal size, with huge bulges like a feathered Popeye. The array of strikingly different feathers on each area of it's body is amazing. The neck bobble (yes I'm sure that's the technical word for it;), normally pinkish and veiny, turns vermilion red with hot blood pumping through it, which gives it's head a rather patriotic decor against the sky blue forehead and white dapplings in between. So cool. I managed to forage myself a couple small feathers too.

3 comments:

Wow! That reminds me of the turkeys that my late grandfather used to raise on his farm. He used to love to walk among them and watch the male try to keep him away form the females by the showy display. Thanks for helping bring up this memory of my childhood.